Almost P1-M worth of shabu seized in Maguindanao del Norte

COTABATO CITY— Non-uniformed policemen seized P985,728 worth of shabu from a dealer entrapped in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte on Monday, December 16. 

Amir Kasim Upam, who is now detained, was shot and wounded in the abdomen by a police officer after he allegedly pulled out a gun upon realizing that he had sold 144 grams of shabu, worth P985,728, to an undercover police team during a drug transaction in Barangay Poblacion, Datu Odin Sinsuat.

Brig. Gen. Romeo Macapaz, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, told reporters on Tuesday, December 17, that the sting that resulted in the arrest of Upam was planned by operatives of the Sultan Kudarat Municipal Police Office, led by Lt. Col. Esmael Madin.

The plan was supposed to entrap Upam in Barangay Salimbao in Sultan Kudarat, but the operation was laid in the town proper of Datu Odin Sinsuat instead as suggested by Upam and a companion, a certain Ricky. Ricky had escaped while about to be frisked and cuffed by combined police personnel under Madin and agents led by his counterpart in the Datu Odin Sinsuat police force, Lt. Col. Samuel Roy Subsuban.

Macapaz said Madin and Subsuban shall cooperate in prosecuting Upam, now in a hospital guarded by policemen, for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.